Pages

Total Pageviews

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

2017 MCD Elections - Congress Tops Crorepati List, BJP Second

With less than a week to go for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections, the National Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) analysed the self-sworn affidavits of 2315 candidates out of the total 2537 in the fray.

An analysis of the financial declaration of the candidates revealed that the Congress has fielded the highest number of Crorepati (candidates with assets worth Rs 1 crore or more) in the MCD elections. The BJP follows as a close second.

ADR analysed the affidavits of 258 out of 271 candidates of the Congress. Of these 258, 163 Congress candidates (64%) are crorepatis. Of the 260 BJP candidates analysed by the ADR, 141 (54%) have assets assets worth Rs 1 crore or more.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has fielded the third-highest number of crorepatis. 250 of the AAP’s 272 candidates were analysed and of these, 104 (42%) are crorepatis. 41 (22%) of the 191 Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidates analysed are crorepatis. With just one crorepati candidate, the CPI (M) has the least number of crorepatis of any major party.

An assessment of the average wealth of party candidates reveals that the Congress comes out on top here as well. The average wealth of 256 Congress candidates is Rs 4.36 crore whereas the BJP is second with Rs 2.89 crore.

The AAP is the only other party which has an average assets worth of over a crore. AAP’s average assets are Rs 1.65 crore. The average assets of 191 BSP candidates are worth Rs 89.59 lakh and those of 36 NCP candidates are worth Rs 97.79 lakh. The average income of all candidates is Rs 1.61 crore.

Geeta Yadav, independent candidate from Mehrauli’s ward number 68, is the richest candidate in the polls with total assets worth Rs 82.70 crore. Mohammed Usman, Congress candidate from ward number 80 in Sadar Bazar, is the second richest candidate with assets worth Rs 57.03 crore. A Dhanwati Chandela, Congress candidate from ward number 7 in South Delhi’s Vishnu Garden, is the third richest candidate with Rs 55.44 crore.

Two candidates, independent candidate Priya Jha and NCP candidate Sunita Gill, have declared in their affidavits that they have “zero assets”. Ram Rup, independent candidate from Kalyanpuri ward number 8, has declared assets worth just Rs 113